George Weah

George Weah (born October 1, 1966, Monrovia, Liberia) is a Liberian politician and a former football (soccer) player who served as president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Before entering politics, his impressive football career included being named African, European, and World Player of the Year in 1995—an unprecedented achievement.

Athletic career

Weah learned his football on the dusty streets of Monrovia before playing for Invincible Eleven, Mighty Barolle, Bongrange Bonguine, and Young Survivors of Claretown. After leading Young Survivors, a team without a coach, into the first division, Weah signed a three-year semiprofessional contract with top Cameroonian club Tonnerre of Yaoundé, which won its league in his first season (1987) with the team. Shortly thereafter, the promising 22-year-old striker was signed by AS Monaco of the French first division. In his five seasons with Monaco (1987–92), he scored 57 goals, and the team won the French Cup in 1991. His exceptional dribbling and shooting skills made him a crowd favourite, and his uncompromising work ethic and technical ability landed Weah a lucrative contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). In his most acclaimed season, he led PSG to the French Cup, to the league title, and to the semifinals of the 1995 European Champions League. Subsequently he transferred to AC Milan (1995–2000) in Italy’s Serie A, helping the club win the 1996 and 1999 league titles. In January 2000 AC Milan loaned him to Chelsea of London, where he made an important contribution to that team’s Football Association Cup triumph. At the end of his career, he played briefly with Manchester City and Marseille in France. Weah scored more goals and played in more matches than any other African professional in Europe.

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Though Weah established a new home for his family in New York City, he maintained close ties to Liberia, where he is known as “King George” and enjoys considerable popularity. Liberia, wracked by poverty and civil war in the 1990s, was able to sustain the Lone Star—the national team—only with the assistance of Weah, who played for, coached, and to a large extent financed the team. In 2002, after the Lone Star nearly qualified for the World Cup and then performed poorly at the African Cup of Nations, Weah retired from football.

Political aspirations

Following the ouster of Pres. Charles Taylor in 2003, Weah returned to Liberia as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations. In 2005 he ran for president of the country as a member of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party. After winning the first round of voting, he was defeated by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Unity Party (UP) in the runoff election in November 2005. Weah initially challenged the election results in court, but he dropped his case the following month.

Weah faced Sirleaf again in the October 2011 presidential election, but this time as a vice presidential candidate running on the CDC ticket with presidential candidate Winston Tubman. Sirleaf and Tubman emerged with the most votes, but—as neither garnered a majority—a runoff election was held on November 8. Less than a week before the runoff, however, Tubman cited CDC complaints about irregularities in the first round of voting and withdrew from the race. He also urged his supporters to boycott the election. International observers, who had previously declared the first round of voting to be free and fair, said his allegations were unsubstantiated. Sirleaf was reelected by a wide margin, although her victory was clouded by the withdrawal of the Tubman-Weah ticket from the race and by low voter turnout.

In December 2014 Weah ran for the position of senator of Montserrado county under the banner of the CDC. He handily defeated his nearest opponent, Robert Sirleaf (one of the president’s sons), taking 78 percent of the vote to Sirleaf’s almost 11 percent. Two years later, in an effort to consolidate opposition strength in preparation for the 2017 elections, Weah’s CDC merged with two other parties to form the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC). Weah was the CDC’s candidate in the October 2017 presidential election, with Jewel Howard Taylor, senator for Bong county and former wife of the ousted president Taylor, as his running mate.

Weah was the top vote getter in the first round of voting, winning about 38 percent in the October 10 poll. He and his nearest challenger, Vice President Joseph Boakai, who represented the UP and received about 29 percent of the vote, advanced to the November 7 runoff election. The election was indefinitely postponed, however, after the Supreme Court ruled on November 6 that the electoral commission could not hold the poll until the commission had finished investigating allegations of fraud and incompetence filed by the third-place winner, Charles Brumskine, and his Liberty Party (LP). The LP’s complaints had the support of other political parties, including the UP. Furthermore, the UP alleged that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had interfered in the electoral process to Weah’s benefit—a charge which she denied. After the electoral commission concluded its investigation and dismissed the LP’s allegations, on December 7 the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by the UP and LP and ordered the runoff election to be held. The election was held on December 26, and Weah won an easy victory, garnering more than 60 percent of the vote. He was inaugurated on January 22, 2018, which marked the first transfer of power between two democratically elected leaders in Liberia since 1944.

Presidency

Under Weah’s administration, some improvements to Liberia’s infrastructure were made, such as the construction of new healthcare facilities and the paving of some of the country’s roadways. In addition, he introduced policies to improve access to education, including making tuition free at public universities. The state of Liberia’s economy during his term was mixed: existing economic challenges had been exacerbated by the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but the economy showed growth over the next three years. In spite of this, poverty remained widespread in the country, and the living conditions of many Liberians had not improved. And although Weah had campaigned on the promise of cracking down on corruption, it remained a problem during his time as president and, by some measures, had worsened.

In the next presidential election, held in 2023, Weah was again the CDC’s candidate. He faced 19 challengers, including Boakai. In the first round of voting, held on October 10, Weah and Boakai received the most votes, winning 43.83 percent and 43.44 percent, respectively. The two advanced to a runoff election held on November 14. Boakai narrowly edged out Weah, taking 50.64 percent of the vote to Weah’s 49.36 percent, and Weah conceded the race once Boakai’s victory had become clear. Weah stepped down, and power was transferred to Boakai on January 22, 2024.